Finding Her
by Tattooed Wings
Summary: Max is kicked out. Both the flocks are trying to find her. But then one news report sends their search to an end. Max. Is. Dead. Only she isn't. She faked her death for their safety. What if all the school really wants is the flock? Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm only posting because I wrote this in Science and I wanted to, I didn't have anytime at all this week, my teachers are piling up homework so high its taller than the empire state! And I ended up doing my math homework wrong so I had to do it AGAIN! All my hard work gone to waste, but my teacher told me that this was my one free pass for the year- meaning he's letting me do it again for full credit instead of half. YIPEE! But now I can't do that again, so yeah. Not like you care but I wanted to rant. R&R :)**

**Summary:  
Max is gone, kicked out. Only the flocks are trying to find her. But then one news report sends their search to an end. Max. Is. Dead... Gone. Only she isn't. She faked her death for their safety. But what happens when all the School ever wanted was her dead so they could get to the flock? Now Max has to work with the FBI to try and keep her family safe without them knowing. But the flock's not stupid, they've survived this long, they're obviously not stupid. So when they start getting suspicious of the girl next door, will Max's cover be blown?  
**

**IDNOMR****! Now read...please?**

* * *

The cold air was sharp with shards of snow dancing around the bustling city. Piles of dirty snow was piled on the curb, the bare trees shivering in the wind, windows frosty and fogged up, car creating black puffs of smoke as they slowly move past, the traffic was worse today. She cursed at herself for not taking the easier way, the only place with no traffic, colder sure, but less crowd and less traffic- the sky.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, her hands balling around the slim cold metal of the ring Fang gave her. She memorized everything about it and could tell you exactly where the engravings were before she had them smoothed out. She memorized every edge of the smooth metal and was going to miss it once it was gone, but she did was she had to do. She was selling it. She didn't want them to be able to find her; it was safer this way, with them not knowing. It's safer for them not to know where she was, it was safer for them to have Maya instead of her, because the scientists only wanted her. Angel was just a trap and now that she was found they had nothing to reel her in.

Nothing but the flock.

So it was just better if she cut all ties to them and burnt every bridge leading them to them. She even thought of cutting off her wings, but she shut down that thought immediately. _Never,_ she thought, _would I ever cut off my wings, the one thing keeping me sane in this crazy world._ If the whitecoats thought that she no longer cared for the flock then they would be free and untouched, supervised, yes, but left untouched.

She had to watch them be tortured for about a year before the whitecoats realized that she wasn't coming to save them this time, they realized that she had 'moved on'. But in reality she still (secretly of course) kept tabs on them.

She rubbed her thumb along the edge of the ring and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She's doing what she has to do, it's only reasonable that she's doing this. It's for their safety. She stopped for a second before the angry protests of the New Yorkers got her moving again. She could keep it, just as a reminder of the good times, and sell another tie to them. But she shook her head sharply, _no._ This was the biggest tie to them, other than the wings of course. She let out a long breath, white puffs of air forming at her lips. To any onlooker she could be smoking, only she absolutely despised those little sticks of death, as she called them. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she thought of herself standing on the corner, a slim white stick in between her middle and index finger, slowly bringing it to her lips… she shuddered a little. She never knew why it bothered her so much, but she just hated those little things… She hated anything that kept her addicted, drugs, alcohol…flying. She hasn't flown in a while. She wouldn't be surprised if she no longer knows how to, it would be best that way and she figures if she stops long enough it would no longer come naturally and she would have to learn it again. _Good,_ she thought, stubbornly hiding the aching pain in her chest as she thought of never flying again, never truly being free again. That was another way to cut off all ties from them- no flying. That way they never met up in the sky.

The cold wind caressed her froze cheeks and she remembered his gentle calloused fingers tracing patterns on her face, making her feel like the most beautiful thing in the world. She would miss them; she _does_ miss them, but she shouldn't. This is best.

She burrowed her hands deeper in her pockets and bent her head down, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to herself. She was careful not to leave one trace of her existence anywhere just in case they found it, but sometimes she would leave a clue here, a clue there. Then she would mentally smack herself and hide alone in the middle of no where waiting to find out that the flock has been taken again.

She was debating if she should actually sell the ring, _what if it fell into the hands of the whitecoats or worse…the flock?_ Then they would have something to go off of, they would know where to look, if they were even still looking.

About a year ago she faked her death after she found out that they were on her trail just one mere step behind her. She needed to do something drastic to make them forget about her, so she made it known where she was going to be on her 'birthday'-a whole in the wall club just outside of town- and burnt it down. She didn't have the heart to actually kill someone that looked like her so…she took matters into her own hands and found an already dead body that had the traits that she had even after a fire and burnt it down with the body in it. The next day on the news, her face was plastered on the TV. She was smiling and it was obviously from her first job after she was kicked out. The smile was forced and you could see the strain in her eyes, she was hiding tears, holding back her pain.

After that she never saw the flock again. She assumed that they gave up, believed that she was dead, but you never know when it came to them. They were very stubborn. She taught them well.

A small smile danced on her lips as she thought of Gazzy's brave face, telling her that he should go with them to save Angel. Or when Angel and Nudge chose her over Fang, or when Fang teased her after she admitted she loved him when she was high off of valium. A small bubble of laughter floated past her lips and she quickly plastered both of her hands on her mouth, looking this way and that, as if it were illegal to laugh.

She only ever laughed when those beautiful memories flitted through her mind like butterflies flying in a field.

She reached her destination and hesitated. _Do it or don't?_ She let out a breath and turned away from the door. They could find it. They could trace it back to her. They weren't stupid, she taught them better than that.

* * *

He sat on the sofa, the others huddled around him. They were so close to finding her, he could practically hear her laughter, her snarky comebacks, and see her sparkling eyes in the snow. Maya wanted to watch the news, heard something about a fire and wanted to see what was up. Angel said that it was more than that and made everyone curious so here they were, snuggling up on the hotel couch, watching the horrible news.

_"A tragic accident has occurred at Bob and Tommy's Bar. A horrible fire spread throughout the club, engulfing everyone in smoke and flames. Luckily only a few were injured. Only one died. A girl named Maxine Ride died. Some say that she was the cause of the fire, but no one knows. Everyone says the same thing 'it just happened'."_

Then the T.V changed to another woman standing outside a burnt building, explaining what's happening. _"Maxine Ride, an eighteen year old girl out partying with friends on her birthday died in the fire that just happened." _A picture of Max flashed on screen. She was wearing a plain black shirt with a chain around her neck, but they couldn't see the charm because it was hidden beneath her shirt. Her hair was down, a few strands falling into her face, her brown eyes no longer held the fire that was there years ago and her smile was forced and painful to look at. To anyone else she would've looked bored and nervous, to the Flock she looked stressed out and depressed. Something was obviously wrong.

"_Ms. Ride lived with her two friend, Bianca Trese and Shelby Hart, here they are now." The woman walked over to a pair of crying girls huddled together, comforting each other._ Iggy pressed the mute and we watched their lips moving, the tears streaming down their face, the anchor woman nodding everyone once in a while as if she actually cared about what had happened to Max.

They stopped looking for her after that. The kids were depressed for days, forcing brave smiles here and there, barely eating and barely making it by. It was an accident what had happened. Angel slipped on her words and Nudge tried to fix it, but the damage had already been done, they had kicked Max out. She _begged_ for them to let her stay, but they just went with it, suddenly coming up with a billion reasons for why she should be kicked out. She would open and close her mouth in defeat. Then she set her jaw and nodded stiffly, turning to the door and marched out. They never saw her again.

* * *

She sat down on the old plastic-covered seat, tapping her fingers impatiently on her leg while the lady readied everything. She looked in the mirror and said goodbye to her long, straight blond hair, her brown eyes twinkling sadly. _He loved her hair_- no, she wasn't going to think of him, not now not ever.

An hour later she was walking out of the salon a different person. Her once-long hair was cut short to a couple inches above her shoulder and was dyed a dark black. She had bangs now, too, with an electric blue streak down the middle. It would cause attention, but she got it last minute, thinking that if you blend in too much, you're bound to be seen.

She walked around some more, taking in the beauty of New York City. She liked it better at night, with all the lights mixing with the stars, you can never tell where the sky starts. Right now you could see all the smoke mixing into the clean air, dirtying it and staining the sky.

She stopped in front of a shop mirror, staring at her reflection as people shoved by. She needed new clothes. She let out a sigh and pushed through the doors. She looked around a little, finding things that she would've worn around the house way back when. Then she found something that Nudge would've begged her to wear and let out an amused laugh. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to try on the ridiculous piece of clothing. She put it on and stared at her reflection. She was never good with fashion and had always let Nudge care about that, she had other things to worry about. She turned a little, examining the shirt and skirt from different angles. It was all the same to her, short and made her vunerable. But she needed something to make her less noticable, but still noticable. Wearing a skirt in the middle of winter in the snow is definitely noticable, _too_ noticable so she'd wear it when she left to California, by _plane_ of course.

She stepped out of the skirt and walked out of the dressing rooms, going over to the cash register. The woman gave her a look asking her why she would wear a skirt in the winter. "I'm going to Mexico for the summer," She lied easily. The saleslady nodded a little and scanned her white blouse and black skirt. Max paid and walked out of the little shop and back into the throng of people, pushing her way past.

* * *

At the airport she easily navigated her way to her gate. Once there, she sat down and pulled out her book. It was something that she came across a couple of years ago in a little run-down shop near the border of Canada. She's read it a million times and each time it's better than the last. She wondered how many times she could read it before it becomes boring.

She read for about twenty minutes before she heard the robotic lady's voice ringing in the speakers overhead, telling her that her flight was now boarding.

She hated planes. She hated anything that she couldn't fly away from, such as planes and submarines. She hated planes more, though, because she could fly and she wasn't flying for herself. It was like trying to drown when you know how to swim, awkward and uncomfortable. She was afraid that her instincts might jump in and that she would start flying like a swimmer would do when drowning.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting out a long breath, waiting for the ride to be over.

* * *

They were in California. They didn't want to live in a house that Max used to be, they didn't want to have to pass by her empty room knowing that she would never occupy it again. So they packed their bags and here they are at the LAX airport waiting for Jeb to come pick them up. It was funny how they swore to never befriend scientists, to never trust a scientist and here they were living with and trusting a scientist. What would Max say? She would throw her head back and laugh at the thought and they would all join in, just like old times.

"Hey guys!" Jeb called and Fang turned to see Jeb running over to them, his glasses threatening to fall off of his nose.

Valencia beamed at Jeb and gave him a hug, the others just stood there, awkwardly watching this scene. Fang's gang stil didn't really trust Jeb, but they kind of had to as long as they were under Fang's command, they had to.

She pulled away and kissed his cheek lightly, they were getting along better now. "That was the worst flight ever," Angel moaned and Nudge rubbed her back, right in between her wings where she had a major cramp.

"What am? Chopped liver?" A small boyish voice yelled from the floor and Angel smiled widely, forgetting about her cramping back.

"TOTAL!" She squealed happily and threw her arms around the black Scotties neck.

"Total, what did I tell you about talking in public?" Fang hissed, giving the dog a stern look. In reality, Max told him, but they all agreed to just say that Fang did everything Max did, that she never existed. It was easier that way. It was hard in the beginning but now it was just easy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, today's an exception." Fang rolled his eyes at the dog and Maya laughed a little at the two boys, dog and man. It hurt the others to have to see Maya everyday, thinking it was Max only to find out it was her clone, but they got used to it, they didn't _like_ it, but they got used to it.

"You guys ready to go?" Jeb asked, turning to the kids.

There were a chorus of yes's, "Then let's go!" Jeb said happily, turning to the front doors.

* * *

Max was walking toward the exit when her phone rang. She sighed and stopped, shuffling through her purse as a large group passed her, talking about all the good things that they were going to do. A small black dog barked and she smiled a little at the little girl that picked him up, whispering how she could never forget him. It seemed like he was actually answering and Max remembered Total, the talking dog. A small smile danced on her lips as she took out her phone. She didn't know who it could be, but there was only one way to find out. Answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Maximum Ride?"_ Max gasped and almost dropped her phone. No one has called her that since...since the day she was kicked out.

"Yes, this is she." What can you say? Curiosity killed the cat. Good thing she was a bird kid.

"_This is the CIA-"_ Max scoffed and rolled her eyes, cutting the man off.

"Listen, sir, I'm in the middle of a crowd and I really want to get home, could you please call back later?"

"_We'll meet tomorrow, Apple Cafe, two streets away from your new apartment, at three, don't be late."_ Max opened her mouth, ready to argue, when suddenly all that filled her ears was the annoying sound of dialtone, signalling that they hung up on her. _Jerks!_ She thought, angrily stuffing her phone in her purse. What could they want from her? She has nothing to give them, no information, no nothing. Nothing but the Flock... They couldn't... They wouldn't... maybe they would? She shook her head and sighed, she'd deal with it at three tomorrow in the Apple Cafe, preferably with an iced mocha in hand.

* * *

**A/N: Ahh, the joys of posting :) Sadly its a new story, I'm putting some stories on hold, such as... Maximum Ride: Neighborhood Witch, The Party, Bad Connections, and Brought Together, Forced Apart. I'm thinking about ending the last two on the list, I'm not sure yet. Anyway, tell me what you think. R&R**

**Dream Beyond Infinity**

**"Look beyond the picket fence"**

**Jade  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter is dedicated to Metal Flowers for going out of her way to get me to write this chapter :) Thank you for the inspiration Metal Flowers! And thank you for everyone who reviews and reads my stories, each reviews makes me feel amazing. :) Oh and sorry if it is short my sister kept yelling at me to get off the damned computer so I had to end it somehow. (^_^)**

**IDNOMR!**

* * *

She tapped her fingers impatiently on the brown table, looking around for the millionth time. She lifted the empty clear plastic cup to her lips only to remember that it was empty. She let out an agitated sigh and looked at her watch, silver and thin, to see that it was more than half past three. _I thought these types of people were always early._ She thought bitterly to herself and stood up, not wanting to look like an idiot anymore, and threw away her empty cup. She proceeded to the door, walking as slowly as possible. Sure, she didn't want to talk to them, but she wanted to know what they wanted, why they had taken the extra step to stalk her to get her attention. **(Sound familiar anyone?)** She was almost at the door when a man pushed through it. He was in a gray suit with a black tie and black dress shoes. He looked like a flustered official man. He spotted Max and smiled apologetically at her. She gave him a hard look, letting him know that she did not appreciate waiting for him.

He frowned a little and quickly passed her, "Come on." He said it like _she_ was the one that was forty-five minutes late.

She plopped down in the exact seat she sat just a mere two seconds ago and he sat across from her. He looked at her expectantly and she raised an eyebrow at him. "If you have nothing to say… I have places to be…" She trailed off and started to get up when he stuck his arms out, yelling at her to stay.

She sighed and looked at the door longingly, "Fine," She muttered and sat back down. "What?"

He let out a breath and she winced a little, scared that he might, possibly, be a male version of Nudge. "We need your help." She easily hid her confusion, learning enough from the one and only, Fang, and leaned forward a little, telling the man that he had her full attention.

"With what?" She asked simply and he looked anywhere but her.

"Maybe I should get us some coffee first." She shook her head firmly, "I already had some, you know, in the forty minutes you made me wait."

He gave her a sheepish smile and she forced herself not to roll her eyes, "Sorry, I-I kinda forgot…" She gave him a once over and shook her head again.

"Tell me again why they hired you?"

He looked startled, like a scared puppy, shaking a little with wide, innocent, unknowing eyes. "My dad…" He whispered and ran a hand through his hair. He looked old enough to be in high school and even acted like one, the quiet kind, not the loud jock kinds.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking out the window behind him. "An iced mocha, please."

He gave her a surprised look, "What?"

She rolled her eyes and looked him in the eyes, "You wanted to get some coffee first? Well, I'll have an iced mocha."

"Ooh, um, sure." He stumbled out of his chair and went to wait in line. He seemed too nervous and jittery to be in the FBI, but you never know…

He came back around five minutes later mumbling about the service and how horrible it was. He handed her the iced mocha she asked for and she said thank you and took it. She took a small sip from it, scared that her stomach wouldn't be able to hold it down. She was also nervous, only she did a much better job at hiding it, because she didn't know what they wanted and they could be working for the school, or worse, the flock. They could be trying to find her still and she didn't want to be found.

He took a sip of his hot coffee and looked at Max. "We need your help."

She nodded a little, "You said that already."

He gulped and played with the cardboard wrapped around the cup so it won't burn you when you hold it. "You're family, the-the flock, they're being targeted." It was a simple sentence, yet so complicated at the same time. She repeated the words in her head over in over again but couldn't wrap her mind around it, it was too…too coincidental? Right when she needed to forget them, they come around and smack her in the face. Make sense?

She nodded slowly, zoning out the window behind his head, slowly sipping her mocha. "So how does this involve me?"

He gave her a look and she felt stupid, like when you ask an obvious question and the whole classroom bursts out laughing at your stupid question. "They're your family, Max, that should be reason enough."

She shook her head at _his_ stupidity. "_Were. _They were my family." He raised an eyebrow at her, asking her to elaborate.

She sighed, "You've made mistakes, you made one today, everyone does. But there is that one mistake that ruins your entire life like finding out your pregnant, only with me, I don't know what the hell I did wrong. One day they just," She made some hand gestures and continued, "Dropped the bomb and said that they wanted me gone, I was the trouble magnet and I was outnumbered, one to ten, so I did the reasonable thing and left. Haven't seen 'em since." She shrugged nonchalantly, easily hiding her pain. She placed the straw on her lips but limply placed it back on the table, unsure of her appetite.

He nodded a little and took a long swig of his coffee, "So what you're saying is that you're just going to sit around and watch?" She nodded and fingered the ring on her chain that still resided in the middle of her collarbone, weighing down her heart.

"That's exactly what I plan on doing, John." He choked on his coffee and she smirked at him. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.

"Ho-how'd you know my name?" The fear in his voice caused her stomach to turn and she suddenly regretted saying anything. She didn't mind the bad guys fearing her, but she didn't want the good guys to hate her too.

She leaned forward and used her index finger to tap his plastic name tag that was clipped to his blazer pocket. His cheeks tinted pink and she chuckled a little, shaking her head, "You need to be more aware of your surroundings."

He nodded a little and sipped his coffee, getting back on topic. "Funny, I never thought that you would be one to sit on the sidelines."

She shrugged and sipped her mocha again, fingering the necklace, still not meeting his eye; she couldn't bring herself to look into his past. When the Flock kicked her out, the whitecoats found her and did something to her eyes, the same thing they tried to do to Iggy's, only she was a success. If she looked into your eyes long enough she would know everything that happened in your life, every pleasure, every failed test, every regret, every happiness, every death, everything, even more than you would think to remember.

"You don't know me," She said in an odd tone, sad and disappointed but also…distant and lost, almost as if she regrets him not knowing her, the _real_ Maximum Ride, the one that cries at night and wakes up with puffy eyes and a runny nose, the one who prays and wishes for a miracle bringing her back to her family, the one that wants to be able to fly just _one_ more time, the one that hasn't changed from the start, the one that still believes in miracles and paradises, the one that still believes that Jeb will always save her, the one that hasn't fallen for Fang yet or gotten her heart broken yet, the one that didn't have to chose between Fang or Dylan, the one that still holds onto the day that Angel wanted to go pick strawberries, the one that was the annoying, bossy leader that everyone secretly loved no matter what they said, the one that wasn't afraid of anything, the one that could never be touched or hurt. She missed her, the girl that she used to be.

"But I've heard stories."

Max scoffed and turned in his general direction, trying to turn off her power for a second or two, "You of all people should know not to believe rumors." He nodded a little and she sighed, losing her previous spunk. He brought back horribly painful memories of Fang and his signature move- the shoulder shrug.

"You're not going to watch them get killed, Max. You seem to nice to be able to watch it."

She glared at him, and hissed. "Then I'll close my eyes." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Max…"

"John…" He let out a sigh and looked up at Max.

"If the answer's no, then I'll leave, no need to waste anymore time here, right?"

She let out a sigh and sipped her mocha only to find that she emptied it a long time ago. Another heavy sigh escaped her lips and she looked at him. "What's in it for me?"

He grinned at her, "You get to shoot at people." All tension from before shattered and she laughed. She missed laughing, it used to give her these horrible happy cramps in her sides but now that's all she wanted—happy cramps that brought tears of joy to her eyes.

* * *

She rubbed her forehead and stared at the file again. "Absolutely not."

The five men sighed for the umpteenth time and sounded like whiny little five year olds. "Why not?"

"I'm not going to date him!" One vital piece of information that John just so happened to leave out—they were supposedly "dating".

John rolled his eyes, "I'm not that bad."

She shook her head, "Okay, I'll cut my hair, dye it, wear contacts, wear make-up and skirts, heels even! But I'm not going to date him. I'm a horrible actor." Which was a big lie. She could act her ass off if she wanted to. How do you think she made it this far? She _acted_. All her years and practice of lying finally came in handy.

One of the men gave her a look, "Maximum Ride, the queen of lies, can't act?" _Damn, how'd he know? _"And you already dyed your hair."

"Lying and acting are two different things." She crossed her arms and glared at him, secretly glad for something so familiar. She missed being able to give people her famous death glare pose with crossed arms and attitude buzzing off her. You could tell, at times like these, the kind of her person that she used to be, stubborn and bossy, the kind of person that never backed down. It was like a breath of fresh air to her.

He shook his head and rubbed his face, "Why won't you date him? The truth this time." She froze, was she really that bad at lying now? She's only been out of practice for what? Two years?

She shrugged, "It seems wrong to fake something like that."

"Well, if you can easily lie, then this will be no problem," Another man hissed and she ran a hand through her hair anxiously. If they wanted the truth, they didn't get it. She had lied…again. She didn't want anyone to think that she moved on, because she was still stuck where she was two years ago. She was happy then, that's how she wants to remember herself—happy and alive.

"Fine," She muttered and crossed her arms angrily. She was used to winning, but needed to know that she had to get used to losing. The man, _Kent I think_, that had asked for the truth smiled happily at her, too smug from her view, and dismissed the meeting.

*)*)*)*)*)*)_(*(*(*(*(*(*(*

They lived by a café, it was a few streets down, it was called Apple Café, and they all loved it. It had warm red walls, dim brown, red, yellow, and orange lights with little tables meant for two, and good service if you came at the right time. Angel begged to share a room with Nudge, but Nudge wanted to share a room with Kate, and Kate wanted to share a room with Star. So Fang said that Star got to choose. That only caused more chaos, though. Star was very indecisive and couldn't choose between Maya and Kate, Kate being her best friend whereas Maya being the part-leader. So then she passed on the judgment to Maya, who said she didn't care.

Angel's big blue eyes were brimmed with tears at not being chosen, to be the last pick and wouldn't talk to any of the girls until after they promised she could chose the room, so of course she chose Nudge, her first ever roommate. Then Star chose Kate, her trustworthy friend, and Maya was left out. Only after that did they realize that they didn't have enough room for Maya to have her own room so she shared with Star and Kate. Fang and Ratchet ended up in the same room with Total because Valencia didn't want the girls staying up late talking to him. There was a lot of complaint about that, but after some persuasion and chocolate chip cookies, they agreed and grumpily nibbled their cookies. Iggy, Gazzy, and Holden shared a room because they all got along and the two adults shared a room. All the kids groaned when they decided that and Star muttered that she better not hear moans in the middle of the night. Val has never been more mad.

Now they were all lounging in the living room, sitting in cramped couches as they waited for Jeb to come home so they could go to the beach. "Why couldn't we get a bigger apartment again?" Total groaned as he circled over Angel's legs again, trying to find a comfortable sitting position.

Valencia sighed and leaned her forehead on her palm, _how did Max deal with this?_ She couldn't help but think. "Because we're not billionaires and CSM can't provide another safe house, not after Iggy and Gazzy bombed the last one. They don't want to have to keep providing houses when they know that that house is going to be blown up." She gave Iggy and Gazzy a hard look, mostly Gazzy and they gave everyone sheepish looks.

"Sorry guys," Iggy mumbled and Gazzy laughed hysterically.

"I swear we won't blow up this apartment if it means getting some more space."

"Claustrophobic here!" Nudge sang, pointing at herself and everyone rolled their eyes.

"Nudge, you have the most space," Maya pointed out and Nudge humphed, crossing her arms angrily, a very _Max_ move. _I guess she'll always be with us,_ Angel thought bitterly and sighed, running her fingers through Total's tangled black hair. It was so soft, but the tangles were getting to her.

"Yeah, we all are, Nudge," Fang added making Ratchet crack a smile, but got no other response. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Iggy hired the volume and they all intently watched Blues Clues, some sang just to humor the others, but nothing could crack their boredom.

"Wanna go for a fly?" Nudge suddenly suggested only to be shot down by Star.

"Not all of us have wings, genius." Nudge rolled her eyes and crossed her arms again.

"You guys could stay," She mumbled angrily and fingered her hair. She wanted it just be the flock, but she would never say that aloud, she didn't want to be lectured. Times like those she really wished that Max came back to back her up, telling them that this was the _flock_ a club exclusive for those with wings only. Something that only they had, like it used to be. She sighed and Fang gave her a look.

"Max would never leave her family behind," Iggy piped up, shutting everybody up. Fang took a big intake of breath and Maya stiffened. They swore to never mention her again, it was too painful, but old habits die hard.

The tension was in the air like a cloud of smoke, so thick you could almost see it. "Sorry," Iggy mumbled and his cheeks heated up, of course _he_ would be the one to break their vow, be the one to mess up. It was _always_ him. At least, now it was always him. He was too stuck in the past, wanting things to go back to how they were, but something's (as Fang puts it) are better off forgotten.

"Max is dead." Angel's small voice brought everyone back into reality and Fang hissed, Gazzy choked on his spit, and Nudge gasped dramatically. They knew it had happened but no one ever said it to clarify it. Not until now. "She died, right?" Fang nodded stiffly and she nodded a little.

"B-but, I feel like she's not." Ratchet nodded a little.

"Maybe her ghost is haunting you," He joked, but it did little to actually get rid of the tension, in fact, it made it thicker. Angel shuddered a little.

"Do you think this is her payback?" Angel was staring at a spot on the wall as her mind wandered, her mouth speaking for her.

Fang swallowed the lump in his throat and Maya cleared her throat, clearing out some tension. "Angel, sweetie," Max would always call Angel sweetie, "she's gone, as much as we all want her back, some things just don't work like that," She shrugged sadly, "Some things happen even if you don't want it to, and you learn to deal. That's the only way to get over life, deal with it." Angel nodded meekly and gave everyone an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I-I wasn't thinking." She smiled weakly and the door burst open and in came a very happy Jeb.

"HEY KIDS! WHAT'D I MISS?" He shouted, throwing his arms in the air like he just won the lottery.

They all had sour looks on their faces and his happiness dimmed a little. "What'd I miss?" He asked in serious tone and Maya shrugged.

"Not much, can we go now?" Angel gave her a thankful smile and Maya shrugged easily.

"Sure…." Jeb watched each child carefully, observing their every move as if one move could tell him what exactly he missed. He gave Val a look and she shook her head, _now is not the time._ But there was never really a time for that. There is never a time to discuss the death of a loved one, never, no one wants to believe that someone that they love is gone forever. If only they knew that she was coming back and a whole lot sooner than they thought.

* * *

**A/N: R&R :) Hope you enjoyed that. I didn't really edit it so sorry for any mistakes! :)**

**Dream Beyond Infinty**

**"Watch you take the fall, laughing all the way to the hospital 'cause there's nothing surgery can do when I break your little heart in two"**

**All Time Low**

**"What do you do when you're stuck, because the one that you love, has pushed you away, and you can't deal with the pain"**

**Pixie Lott**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: R&R! Yes, I'm updating again. Why? Because I can. ENJOY! Sorry its short I'm going to go soon and I needed to finish it.**

* * *

They heard news of their new neighbors and they couldn't stop talking about them, it was like when there's a new student at your school and that's all anyone can talk about until something else comes along. "I heard that they're just married!" Angel squealed and Star and Kate both "awed" while smiling, trying to imagine the couple.

"I can hack into the system and find out who they are!" Nudge exclaimed and the three girls nodded at her encouragingly.

"Absolutely not!" Maya exclaiming shooting down all their dreams, "We don't need to be found now. I honestly, don't want to be homeless, but that might just be me."

Nudge rolled her eyes, "We won't get caught! I'll erase all traces of me so that the owners will never know!"

Maya shook her head firmly and crossed her arms, telling them that she would not back down. Nudge sighed defeated and nodded sadly, "Fine." Angel gave her a worried look, noticing that Nudge hasn't been talking nearly as much as she used to. Now it was like this was the zombie of Nudge, all her spirit gone.

Maya nodded once and walked out of the room, Fang trailing in seconds after her. "Hey guys." In fact, Fang seemed to talk more than Nudge now. _Weird,_ Angel thought to herself.

"Hey Fang," They all said in unison, all their boredom coming back. The beach was fun but then Angel started feeling sick and they went home. She wouldn't stop apologizing for ruining their day, but everyone made up excuses to make her feel better, even when she did, indeed, ruin their day.

"Can we hack into the system?" Nudge asked suddenly, looking up at him hopefully. All her old spirit was back, only her motor-mouth seemed to be turned off still. He raised an eyebrow at her and opened the fridge, looking for some orange juice. He grabbed it and a glass and began pouring him some juice.

"Didn't Maya just say that you couldn't?" He asked and Nudge sighed, sinking farther into her seat.

"Forget I asked," She muttered and crossed her arms, staring angrily at the bumpy wall. Fang sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he hated seeing Nudge like this, he would never tell anyone but he missed her nonstop blabbing that filled in the spaces of time where they were doing nothing and it was silent, like now, for example.

"Fine, but I was never here." She beamed at him.

"REALLY?" He gave her a look and she quickly sat back down, "Right. Never here." She nodded and he flashed her a smile as he exited the kitchen. Once he was gone the girls surrounded Nudge and the computer, squealing like a sixteen year old that just got their dream car.

After two minutes of endless silence, the only sound was the little clicks of Nudge's slim fingers tapping the keys. "Here!" She said suddenly and stopped typing. The three girls surrounded her and they started reading what was there.

"So they originally lived in Colorado and they aren't married, just dating, apparently. Oh look there they are!" Nudge squealed, pointing to a picture of a girl and boy standing next to each other. The girl had flaming red hair that stopped a little before her shoulders and sharp brown eyes that glowed a golden hazel in the light. The boy had light brown hair that could pass for blond and a mixture of hazel, blue, and gray eyes. The boy was just a mere inch taller than the girl but she could easily tower over him if she was in heels. They were standing in front of the front desk talking to the woman sitting behind it. Then the woman gave them a pair of keys and the couple smiled at her while they proceeded to the elevators.

"Colorado you said?" Angel asked, her eyebrows furrowing. Nudge stopped mid-nod and her eyes widened a little. She totally forgot about their E home in Colorado. It was such a weird coincidence that they used to live in Colorado…just like them.

"You don't think…"Angel trailed off, only they weren't on the same page.

"ZOMG! IT'S MAX!" Angel frowned at her and shook her head.

"No, that's…not what I meant." Nudge frowned at Angel and stared at her lap.

"Oh." There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then they heard the unmistakable sound of two pairs of feet walking down the hall. Star smiled mischievously at the others and they gave her a questioning look.

"What?" They asked in unison and her smile widened.

"We should welcome them!" Something that Maya specifically told them not to do, even Fang agreed with Maya. _We don't need to attract attention to ourselves,_ they said and the others just sighed, deciding not to fight. Max would kill them if they know that they didn't even try to fight for what they wanted. But she was gone, so she wouldn't (couldn't) kill them. They knew that Max would never be able to kill on purpose. She was too…good-hearted?

Nudge smiled at the bright idea and nodded encouragingly, "Absolutely!"

* * *

Max sighed reluctantly as they sat her down in front of a mirror, one of the best make-up artists standing behind her, obnoxiously smacking gum. "What'll it be?" She asked looking at Kent.

"Red, make it look real though." Max's grip squeezed the arms of the chair and glared at herself in the mirror. _Breath…breathe…breath._ She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes, waiting for this torture to be over. She didn't mind dying her hair, as she said before, but she didn't want _red_ hair. God, she hated red hair. But they said that brown was too close to her old hair, as was blond, and she already had black hair, and they were scared that she might've been seen with black hair. So that left the rest of the rainbow, only she didn't want pink, blue, green, or purple hair so she was stuck with red.

After an hour or two she opened her eyes and stared at a familiar stranger. The woman behind her grabbed the curling iron and slowly started curling her hair. Perfect, hot locks fell back in her face as she stared in shock at the girl in front of her. The curls looked fake, obviously, and she looked like a red-headed Goldie Locks. The lady grabbed a brush and carefully ran it through her hair, making her hair look more real with natural looking waves instead of stiff curls. The red hair didn't suit her well, but it was only because she's only ever seen herself with blond/brown and black hair. She grasped a chunk of hair and twirled it around on her finger. It was soft and silky, nothing like her normal tangled tumbleweed of hair that she used to have. She repeatedly ran a hand through her hair as they cut John's hair, just barely trimming it.

"So remember, you're name is Jessie Baxter and you've dated Brian King for two years now. You're anniversary is in two weeks, you have two little sisters, Bella and Tess. Brian has one sibling, Riana. You two used to live in Denver, Colorado. You went to high school together and started dating on and off in high school." Max rolled her eyes and nodded for the billionth time.

"The story hasn't changed from the first time, Kent," She said sarcastically, playing with the threads on her shirt. She didn't want to do this, but she also didn't want to see them die. As much as she hated them at the moment, she couldn't live with herself, knowing that she sat back and watched them die.

He gave Max an annoyed look, obviously losing patience with her. "We need you to believe that you lived that life, we need you to know your story."

Max rolled her eyes and stood up, turning to face him. "Look, you're making us memorize a story that isn't ours, but everyone knows that you don' remember it like it happened yesterday, unless you watched someone die. No story is that fresh in someone's mind. It's vague and unclear; they only remember what they want to, not the entire thing. That's just unrealistic."

He nodded a little, sadly understanding where Max was coming from. He hated being wrong and hated it even more when Max was the one proving him wrong. She didn't give him a smug smile, something that she wouldn't have minded doing two years ago, she just shrugged. "Can I go now?" She asked, looking around, noting that she was no longer needed.

"No, we just need Brianna to finish cutting John's-"

"Brian's," Max corrected with a smile. Kent held back a glare and continued.

"Yes, _Brian_'s hair then we- I mean you two are going to your new home." Max groaned inwardly and sighed, flopping back onto her chair. She really didn't want to go to her new home. She didn't want to become a new person entirely, but she didn't want a lot of things that's going to happen anyway. It's just the way life is-unfair. You learn to get used to it and move on with your life. You don't waste your life holding a grudge over something like this.

Max was nervous, she hasn't seen the Flock in ages (two years) and she was scared that even after all that time they'd recognize her with her red hair and new (fake) boyfriend. She pasted a fake smile on her face and walked next to Brian into the apartment building, acting as if her stomach wasn't exploding right now, scared that someone was going to scream her name, that Nudge would suddenly appear, throwing accusations at her, that Maya would be there smiling smugly at her, that Angel was no longer her baby, that Gazzy and Iggy finally got over their pyro phase. That everything changed when she left, when she "died". But no one ever showed and in the elevator she relaxed some, her heart beat going back to her normal, super speed heartbeat. "It's so different from Colorado…" She said with a smile, and it wasn't a lie. For one, the crowd-ugh the crowd- and then let's not get started about the odd weather. It was hot without a sun! The clouds covered the sky and sun, but it was hot. And it didn't snow. She didn't know if she was happy about that or not. She liked the snow, it looked so magical- Yes, Maximum Ride thinks that snow is magical- and it brought this weird hopeful feeling in her gut.

"Yeah, I know, but hey, at least it's not snowing!" She smiled, and laughed a little at his horrible attempt at getting rid of the tension.

"Yeah, well…" She shrugged, a little, "I miss the snow, I like making snow angels!" He laughed and she smiled, her cheeks were going to hurt later, all that smiling… Her cheeks were already cramping. She dropped the smile for a while and the elevator dinged open. He gestured for her to walk by first and she laughed a little, _what a gentleman,_ she thought sarcastically to herself.

She was opening the door to her new apartment when the door next flew open and Nudge, Angel, Star, and Kate flew out of it, smiling like idiots. "WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME!" They all screeched together and Max dropped the key out of shock. _What. The. Hell._

* * *

**A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS METAL FLOWERS! And yes I am aware that it is not christmas time but I like Christmas, got a problem with that? If you do, go complain in a review! See that way it will be a nice complaint! :)**

**Dream Beyong Infinity**

**"'Cause she's bittersweet. She knocks me off my feet and I can't help myself I don't want anyone else."**

**The Click Five**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:It's been a while! I missed you guys. My explanation at the bottom! R&R**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR**

* * *

_Oh_._ My. God. _Max stared in shock at the four girls as 'Brian' held back his laughter. _Glad one of us finds this amusing,_ Max thought bitterly to herself. They were all silent, no one moving as the girls waited for their new neighbors to react.

John reacted first, "Well hello there." He sounded friendly and trustworthy which Max new would've gotten him on their suspicious list immediately but it did quite the opposite, it made them trust him. _TRUST_! It maddened her but she stayed cool, she had many years to perfect the act. She smiled sweetly at them, trying to hide how much she wanted to cry. She hadn't seen them in so long, and it was obvious they were doing so much better without her. They looked healthier, happier, and just so much better.

"Nice to meet you," She said with a small, polite nod. The girls visibly relaxed and Max knew that they had passed their first test. Now onto their next. She let out a silent breath and forced her walls down, forced herself to let Angel's probing hands in.

A normal person usually wouldn't be able to tell that someone was looking into them, but after years of being forced to open her mind and let people in, Max had gotten used to the fact and had been able to tell if someone was in her mind very easily. She could feel Angel's cold, mental fingers running all over her mind, looking for a flaw, anything really, that would give them away, but Max had gotten better than Angel, so much better, throughout the years and was easily able to fool her. It almost saddened Max that her baby couldn't detect anything in her mind because that means that the School has again been matched with them, now Angel wouldn't be able to see (read) them coming.

Angel gave the girls a nod okay and immediately they started talking, introducing themselves to the neighbors. "Hiya I'm Nu-Nicole and this is-"

"I'm Ariel!" Angel exclaimed excitedly.

"Star," The blond girl said with a careless smile. Nudge gave her a look before turning her attention back to Max.

"And I'm Kathrine, call me Kate," She smiled sweetly at the couple. She looked harder at Max and tried to figure out why she seemed so familiar. A voice whispered in her head, so, so quietly that she almost missed it, _Max…_

"I'm Brian and this is-"

"Jessie," Max cut in, smiling brightly at John and he rolled his eyes. "It was lovely meeting you, but we had a long trip and should really be heading in now."

Nudge, not wanting her first interaction with anyone other than her family in too long, couldn't help but blurt, "You should come for dinner!" Everyone stared at her shocked, Max especially. _WAS SHE CRAZY?!_ It was the thought going through everyone but John's mind.

"Of course we would! That'd be great, so what time should we be there?" Silence followed the question as the four girls argued with their eyes.

Getting the nonexistent hint Max cut in, "Of course, you should ask you're parents first. Come by later if they say yes and tell us the details but don't worry, we won't be offended if they say no." And with that the two retrieved their keys and walked into their new apartment. John opened his mouth to congratulate Max on keeping her cool after so long when she quickly put a finger to her lips and tapped her ear. The message was not lost on him, _they could still hear._

He cleared his throat and put his sweater on the nearest seat. Max gave him a look, "There's a coat closest for a reason," then after another thought she added in her sweetest voice, "_sweetie_." He gave her a look and she grinned innocently at him.

"They seemed nice," he said and she shrugged. He sighed, "Did you see the little blond one?"

"She wasn't that small, seemed taller than her age. She must be, what, nine or ten?" That seemed about right, Max thought to herself, "But did you see how tall she was? I remember being that young once, and still being taller than everyone in my grade. It was… torture." John shot her a warning look and she smiled slyly at him. He couldn't complain or give her grief for her horrible choice of words.

He opened his mouth to respond when his phone went off, indicating that he had a new message. He opened it and smiled smugly, showing it to Max.

**Installed soundproof walls. Windows r thick, they won't hear you. Have fun!**

Max scowled at the phone and knocked it out of his hands as he laughed, "No need to be a child Ma-"

Paranoia took over and with inhuman speed she rushed over to him, covering his mouth. Her eyes were frantic as she looked around waiting for something, anything, to prove that they had been caught. He slowly pushed her hand away and said in a soothing tone, "Hey, don't worry, it's been tested, they can't hear us."

She nodded a little and stepped back. "That's what I'm worried about."

* * *

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Maya screamed loudly. Nudge had, in her fastest voice, explained to Maya and everyone else what the girls had done. And in her quietest voice she explained how she invited them over for dinner. Iggy and Gazzy couldn't help but find the whole thing hilarious. Fang, leaning in the corner, stayed silent through it all. Jeb and Val only sighed and tried to calm Maya down.

"Calm down? Calm down! We don't know these people! We-"

"And they can hear us, Maya!" Valencia said, for a moment loosing her patience. Maya shut up for a second, contemplating the fact.

Realization swept over her face, horror soon following it, "Oh my god…"

"And…" everyone stared at Angel, "and if we want to look normal and inconspicuous maybe we should invite our new neighbors over. And if we want to know them this is a way we can know them!" After that it was settled, the new neighbors would come over that night for dinner.

Valencia sent Fang with the four girls, much to their discontent, to go to their neighbor's apartment to tell them about dinner. The girls whined about there not being any trust but Fang only said that they shouldn't have gone without consent if they wanted trust. That pretty much shut them up.

Fang knocked on the door and a pretty redhead opened it. Her bright smile faded only a little at the sight of him and he couldn't help but rack his memory to find out who this girl was but came up empty. "Um… hello?" She said, uncertainty coloring her face. He snapped out of it when the girls behind him started giggling. He shot them a look that only made them laugh harder.

Max smiled at them and John came up behind her, "Who is it? Oh hello." Fang immediately hated him. There was something about the man that ticked him off.

"HI!" Nudge exclaimed happily, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Hey, we just wanted to say that er… you can come to dinner tonight, if you want. We eat at six… So, yeah, yeah…" Angel trailed off awkwardly. They all stared at the two expectantly and Max shrugged.

She turned to John and looked at him with humor, "What do you think, _honey?_" He grinned at her, trying to stop his laughter. They couldn't help but find their fake relationship hilarious and would make a joke of it pretty often. Fang couldn't help but catch the sarcasm in the girl's voice as she said honey. He wondered what that was about.

"Sure, it's not like we were planning anything." He turned to the people standing out the door and smiled, "We'll be there."

* * *

An hour or so later, Max and John were standing in front of the flock's front door dressed in fresh clothes, whispering to each other. Fang opened the door and the two smiled at him as they walked in, he couldn't help but try and figure out the redhead walking past him. It frustrated him how he couldn't figure her out, he wanted to know why she looked, no, she didn't look familiar but something in him told him he knew her. "Wait," they both stopped and stared at him, "er… you never said who you were."

Max smiled at him, her heart clenching slightly as she had to act _happy_ around the boy that didn't mind stepping all over her heart over and over again. "I'm Jessie," She said with the same stunning smile as before. Her cheeks were hurting from her constant smiling, she wasn't used to it.

"John," He said with a nod. The couple stared at Fang expectantly and he shrugged.

"Nick." Max laughed quietly and he raised an eyebrow at her. She scowled mentally, she's an idiot. How could she loose it now? How could she screw it up so easily? "What?"

The lie came easily, too easily to be honest. She didn't mind being able to lie easily but she hated how much she had changed. "You just don't look like a Nick." He gave her a hard look and she quickly turned away before she stared him down. It would've been too much of a Max move.

"Oh! There you are! We were wondering if you'd be able to make it." Valencia jumped straight into introductions, Max and John smiling and nodding at the appropriate people.

Then Jeb came out and told them that the roast was overcooked. Max shrugged and said that they didn't mind but Valencia insisted they eat elsewhere. Max knew that they were lying, one Val wouldn't look her in the eye, and two her super senses smelt that familiar smell of two mischievous boys making bombs again. A small smile adorned her lips as she thought of Iggy and Gazzy. They never failed to make her smile.

"It's alright, no problem, where to?" She said, her voice sounding light and happy. After deciding on some Chinese place they all left. John and Max decided to take some with them; they ended up with Nudge, Star, Kate, Iggy, and Fang. Max noticed how they conveniently placed Iggy and Gazzy in two different cars. "It's weird how you guys have a van," Nudge said out of nowhere.

Max smiled a little from the passenger seat, "My parents said they'd buy my car as long as they chose it," She made a face and everyone but Fang laughed.

In the silence Max turned on the radio, One Direction filling the car. The girls (not Max of course) squealed while Iggy and Fang and John groaned. Max hit John's arm and stared at him disbelieving. "Don't hate, One Direction is awesome!" He gave her a look that said 'really?' and she nodded. "Yes, they are _awesome_."

"I'm changing it."

She slapped away his hand and he chuckled, "Touchy."

"Change it and I will kill you," Nudge said in a deadly tone. Max smiled triumphantly.

"See, the guest says it stays. And the guest is always right, so it stays."

"Aren't you too old to like One Direction?"

Max scoffed and rolled her eyes, "God, how old do I look? Seventy?"

Nudge laughed and couldn't help but let curiosity get the best of her, "How old _are _you?"

"Guess," Max said, smiling happy that the silence was no longer just being filled by 'Little Things'.

"Ummm…" Nudge looked over Max and thought hard about this. She looked somewhere between seventeen and twenty-one. "I don't know, twenty?"

She laughed and shrugged, "Close, I'm nineteen."

"So you've been dating since you were seventeen?" Max's eyebrows scrunched together and she turned her body to look at Nudge closely.

"How'd you know that?" John almost gasped at how good Max was at acting. He had expected her to loose it by now, but she's kept it together and was acting her part so much better than anyone else he knew could've.

Nudge shrugged, shifting uncomfortably in her seat," Er… lucky guess?" She suddenly wanted Angel at her side, mind controlling Jessie to forget what she just said.

Max gave her a small 'I'm-sure-that's-exactly-how-you-knew' smile and turned around.  
"Ugh, okay now you can change the station."

John laughed at her and hired the volume. Max covered her ears and shook her head, "Turn it offfffff," She groaned, hitting his arm playfully.

"Hey! No hitting the driver!" She glared at him and quickly changed it to something better. "What? Don't want me to call you maybe?"

"I swear, say that again and I'm pushing you out of the car," Max said in a serious voice, temporarily forgetting the people in the car.

"Hey THIS GIRL'S ON FIRE!" John yelled making the kids in the back laugh as he tugged Max's red hair. She made a face and whacked his hand.

"Don't touch my hair."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOH!" He sang with the song, miles away from the key. She whacked his arm and shoved him lightly making him laugh. "HEY! Be careful! I'm _driving!_"

"Then drive, you're not Alicia Keys, you're not supposed to sing, you're supposed to drive."

He grinned at her and she shook her head, chuckling quietly. "You're an idiot."

"That's what they say!" And everyone laughed. Fang stared at Jessie's hair and couldn't help but wonder if her hair was naturally red. He wanted to ask but held back, if it was he knew that he would feel somewhat depressed. He just really wanted to believe it was Max, _she had that fire_, he thought to himself. The song lyrics were stuck in his head all the way to the restaurant.

_This girl is on fire…She's walking on fire… This girl is on fire…_

_She's just a girl and she's on fire…_

* * *

Dinner was fun and everything went smoothly. And in that time, Fang had successfully managed to forget about Jessie's hair and Max. But once back in his room both thoughts were plaguing his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about both of them and the only thing about them that was similar was the fire. Max had a fiery spirit and sure, Jessie had some fire but let's face it all her fire was in her hair. _Her hair…_ He couldn't decide if he thought it was fake or real. It looked both, in a way. Like that girl, Haley Williams. It was like her hair but more… real? And he couldn't tell if she had straight or wavy hair. He'd never been so obsessed with hair until those neighbors.

There was a quiet knock on his door and he made a noise of approval. Ratchet walked in, falling down on his bed, "Since when do you knock?" Fang asked as he got up to close his door.

"Since I decided to respect people's privacy." His voice was snide and mocking, making Fang's shoulders shake with silent laughter.

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Kate or Star?"

"What?"

"Choose, which one?" Fang gave Ratchet a look while the other boy just sat and waited. "I'm serious bro, I need you're help here!"

"I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. Have fun," He said and was about to leave when Ratchet said something.

"Wait, what'd you think of the neighbors?" He asked suddenly, stopping Fang in his tracks.

"They're okay, I guess," He said after a moment of thinking. What _did_ he think of the neighbors? They seemed weird, off almost, he thought to himself.

"Did you see that girl? What was her name? Jenna? Jessica? Jen-"

"Jessie."

"Yeah, her, she looks familiar right?" Fang nodded, "See! It's not only me! I just can't remember who she reminds me of." Fang nodded again, blocking out the rest of Ratchet's talking. He wasn't as bad as Nudge but he was starting to annoy him.

"And that tool, Brian, he seems weird." Fang raised an eyebrow at Ratchet, waiting for further explanation.

"Well for one thing, they don't even act like they're together!"

"So that means they're weird, not just him," Fang explained in a slow voice.

"I don't know, he just gives off a bad vibe, ya know?" Fang shrugged and went back to the window.

"I'm going out, lie for me, 'kay?" Ratchet grinned at him, "Anytime."

* * *

Max stared out the window, no moon. She smiled evilly. Something had sparked in her when she saw the flock, for the first time in ages she was really considering flying. She _needed_ it in the oddest way. She knew that she'd probably regret jumping out that window but she wanted to. She wasn't even sure she remembered how to fly, it'd be pathetic for her to die because she simply forgot how to fly. She'd hate herself forever if she found out that she no longer remembered how to fly, how to work with the wind to fly easier.

"Go ahead." She jumped at the voice and blushed furiously at her stupidity. How had she let him get so close without hearing? She mentally scolded herself for not being on alert and turned back to the window.

"I was just looking."

"They won't see you, there's no moon, overcast which means no stars. They're practically blind right now. Go." She turned to him, a smile dancing on her lips. _Could I?_ She nodded to herself, I can, and threw open the window.

She leaned outward, the cold air brushing over her face as she smiled at the short drop. They were at the back of the building, facing the dead trees that covering something that she couldn't quite figure out. "Don't wait up." And with that she jumped out.

Immediately, she knew what to do. She never forgot how could she? No one could forget something this beautiful, this amazing. It was an art that not even amnesia could erase. It'd always be there, lingering in the darker corners of her mind, waiting for the right time to come out and play. Today was that day.

She pushed down hard with her wings and gained altitude as she flew faster, harder, than she had ever done before. But never really going into her fastest speed. She looked down on the world, a bubbly laugh surfacing as she got higher and higher. She had forgotten how free she felt, how the wind thrashed around her, how gravity tried to push her down but no avail. She had forgotten what it was like to be in this heaven in the sky. She missed it so much, it was that ache that could never be filled. The only way to was to fly and free herself from the chains of the earth. This was freedom.

* * *

Fang hadn't had any place in mind but before he knew it he was landing on the charred ground of what was left of Bob and Tommy's club. They had rebuilt it just a block away, leaving everything as it was. He didn't know what made him come here, something had just pulled him in. He looked around, kicking debris with his foot, there were still burned chairs, half of walls, table parts, broken glass, and tile everywhere. But it was all dirty and burnt. All left behind.

He looked around and began to wonder what Max must have felt while she was burning in here, dying. He knew that the Max that he used to know would've been able to escape such fire, but he wondered is that Max died before it, that the Max that died here was the girl that was forcing a smile in the picture, the one that had obviously given up.

Fang refused to believe that Max would give up, but looking at the remains of the place he knew that she did. _Or maybe it was fake…_ The voice was barely heard over the wind but Fang heard it, he didn't want all that false hope but he grabbed onto it, wondering if maybe she didn't want to be found so she did something that she knew would get them to stop looking.

Some rubble skidded causing Fang to turn and see someone running away. Instinct took over and he ran after the figure, "HEY!" He yelled, over and over again but the figure kept running. Unable to catch up Fang knew that this person wasn't normal. _Max…_

"HEY!" He screamed, a new kind of energy pushing him faster. As he got closer he grabbed at the person's hood, his fingers just skimming the fabric as he tripped and fell. He looked up in time to see the person turn back around and run into the darkness.

But he saw what he saw and he knew it wasn't his imagination, it couldn't have been, it was too bright, too out there to be fake.

The person had red hair.

* * *

Max kept on running, knowing that he had seen her hair. She cursed at herself and hit the nearest tree, "UGH!" She shook at her hand and ran some more, _he saw me!_ She screamed again and kicked a rock, _hard_, sending a wave of pain through her but she could care less. He had _saw_ her. How was she going to explain that? HOW?!

She rushed home, feeling sick, she'd screwed it up. He'd figure it out, put two and two together and they'd know that she's alive, she'd have to run again! They'd be put in danger all over again! What was she going to do? _I knew I'd regret flying._

Once inside her home she quickly changed, easily evading John and his questions. But once everything had settled she couldn't avoid him anymore.

"What happened?" She looked into the doorway and saw him standing there with a worried expression. She turned away, staring at the wall, only one thought swirling through her mind—_we're screwed._

"Max?" She shook her head, _so effing screwed._

"You're scaring me." She glared at the wall, why was she such an idiot? Why?

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Her glare never ceased and her anger boiled again. "Max?" She wished he'd shut up, she didn't want to get mad at him but all her anger had to go somewhere.

"What happened to you're foot? It's swelling."

"I'll be fine," He seemed relieved at her communication and sat next to her.

"Why are you so mad?" She shrugged and rubbed her ankle, feeling the swelling already stopping. At least one thing's going right, she thought to herself bitterly.

"Max, I'm serious, I have to know if our missions bee compromised." She laughed at his words, she's never heard him so serious before. It was amusing.

"Max!" His voice was getting impatient, no longer worried. She shrugged, taking a breath. Here goes nothing…

"Well?"

"He saw me."

* * *

Once home Fang rushed into Angel's room, trying his hardest to stay quiet so not to wake anyone. He shook Angel and once he saw her eyes open, threw her over his shoulder making her squeal. "FANG!" She hissed, hitting his back in frustration. But he wasn't having any of it.

He quickly got outside and downstairs where the cars were parked. Fang placed Angel down and began pacing. "What did you find in Jessie's mind?"

"What?"

"Jessie, what'd you see in her mind?!" He asked in a rushed tone, Angel had never seen him so stressed and worried. Well not since he found out Max was dead.

"I—uh, well it was normal, she had decided to move with Brian because they wanted to go to college in LA. They had everything planned out, it's so romantic Fang, really it is. They want to be together forever. They're so in love!" Fang shook his head, _that _can't_ be it,_ he thought to himself.

"What? It is! They love each-"

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"What are you saying?" She asked, cocking her head to the right a little in confusion. "Because if you have a crush on her…"

"What?" He stopped and stared at the little blond girl incredulously. Only then did he realize that she was in her little princess pajamas and must be freezing.

"I don't know you've been acting strangely ever since-"

"I don't like her," He said in a stiff tone.

"Well then what?!" She asked, getting impatient. "Why couldn't this wait until the morning? I'm tired." He felt bad about waking her up, he really did but he had to know. Curiosity killed the cat.

"You can't tell… okay? Like anyone. No one can know."

"Fine, fine."

"I… I saw her." Angel waited her impatience growing. Fang sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "At that club, Bob and Tommy's. The old one, the burned one." She stared at him for a moment before fully processing what he was saying. Her jaw dropped and she stared at him in horror.

"No…"

"Yes, and she could run… faster than me, like M-," he stopped and waited a moment, he hadn't said he name in forever, "Max's kind of fast." They stayed silent, the only noise was their breathing and the wind.

"Max… Max is dead Fang… The, her, the body it, it was-"

"Burnt so badly that they weren't even sure," He filled in surely. "And now the neighbors? I mean it's just too much to be a coincidence."

Angel gave him a look and sighed, "Maybe you're looking at something that's not there." He stared at the little girl and nodded a little, he had thought of that too. But he just didn't want to believe it. Now that he heard it, though, the idea seemed more likely.

"And what if I'm not?" Fang whispered, "What if…" He couldn't even finish the sentence, it hurt too much.

"We hurt her, Fang; she's not going to come back. If she wanted to, she could've tried to find us, you know. She could've come back if she really wanted to. She could've left more hints, more of a trail. She didn't want to be found, Fang. If you were her, would you?" That shut him up. He looked at Angel and wondered when she had grown up, when she had gotten so smart. He cracked a small smile and Angel returned it.

"Let's go back, come on," He said and lifted her onto his back, giving her a piggy back ride. She fell asleep halfway there.

Fang couldn't help but wonder if maybe Max had tried to find them but gave up. But the Max he knew wouldn't have given up, there's too much fight in her to give up. But as he looked at the sleeping flock he knew that she had. The flock was her biggest accomplishment, it was her family, they were the one thing Fang knew Max wouldn't give up on, but the message was loud and clear, Max had given up. Otherwise that fire wouldn't have eaten her, she'd still be alive, she would've came home it she hadn't given up. But she did. And that's what killed him the most.

The Max he knew was dead. If she was out there, he wasn't sure he wanted to see how much she's changed, how far from the fighter she strayed. He didn't want to know that she had given up on them.

Because that was his biggest fear.

* * *

**A/N: It's so good to be back! Ahhhh! I've missed this place! I wonder how many people gave up on me, heck I would give up on me. I'm so so so so so so so so soooooo sorry! I broke my computer (dropped it down the stairs :|) and my parents wouldn't fix/ buy me a new one so I had to wait for one of my lovely aunts to help me out (Thanks aunt lisa!) So I'm sorry about the forever wait. I'll try to be more consistent but my parents don't trust me with a computer so... I don't know. R&R THANKS!****  
**

**~*~Tattooed Wings~*~  
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**"You'll never love yourself half as much as I love you  
And you'll never treat yourself right, darling, but I want you to."  
**

**Little Things- One Direction  
**


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